


Moons and Stars

by awezumee, eileme



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-14 12:20:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2191632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awezumee/pseuds/awezumee, https://archiveofourown.org/users/eileme/pseuds/eileme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The marauders return to Hogwarts for their fifth year - chaos will ensure</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is written by awezumee from Remus pov.  
> eileme will be writing from Sirius pov.

_Remus POV_

* * *

 

The train rolled along the tracks, its rhythmic sounds soothing Remus as he sunk himself deeper into Hogwarts: A History. This was a really interesting chapter, all about the castle’s hidden doors and pathways. Of course it didn’t quite point them out, but he could clearly recognise most, if not all of them. He and his friends had used them many a time to both get out of trouble, as well as to cause it. His eyes darted from page to page as he finished the chapter and went back to his favourite one, the chapter describing the construction of Hogwarts.

”REMUS!” the exclamation literally ripped his focused gaze from the book in his lap and onto the curly-haired boy on the opposed side of the compartment. Waving frantically as if to get his attention even more, Sirius kept on shouting, ”Experiences, what has happened in the summer! You’re going to listen too, whether those words of yours are more interesting to you or not!”

Even though he wanted to be irritated, he couldn’t be. It was the first time he had seen either of his friends in quite some time, but some part of him didn’t want to give up so easily. He settled on sighing before closing his book and mumbling ”You have my full attention,” although with a hint of a smile.

Sirius stopped moving his arms around and seemed to collect his thoughts before starting his retelling of how exactly he had spent his summer holidays. ”So, me and my parents’ favourite son got home to the usual praising of him and the ignoring of me. I swear they would’ve gone through my trunk to make sure I didn’t bring any more Gryffindor stuff to cover my walls with, but they were too busy worshiping Regulus to even look at me. ’Oh Regulus, your marks were outstanding this year!’ the old hag went on and on as I snuck upstairs and sort of barricaded myself inside my room so I could get some goddamned peace from those pureblood-crazed people.”

”Don’t tell me you stayed in there as long as last time,” Remus interrupted him with a meaningful glare. During the summer between their third and fourth year Sirius had locked himself up for weeks to get away from his family. They had tried to get into his room at first, probably out of anger, but then they had just stopped caring as if they were better of without him. It wasn’t until then that Sirius had sent his owl to Remus. The letters must have started out of boredom until they became more depressing and Remus made it his life’s mission to get him out of his miserable room which no one seemed to be able to coax him out of. Well, no one had really tried, but when he did Sirius was very reluctant.

”What’s this thing about last time?” James straightened his back, suddenly very interested. They hadn’t told anyone else about the ordeal, as Sirius didn’t want to feel as if he cared too much.

”Me and my mother sort of had a competition of who had the strongest mind,” Sirius lied. His mother had never tried to get him out more than once. ”And the answer is no,” he said to Remus, which eased his heart slightly. ”She had ordered Kreacher to stop bringing me food if I asked him, so she basically starved me out. Probably just for pleasure. Honeydukes’ candy doesn’t last all that long, if your interested.”

Sparked by Sirius’ talk about candy, James turned slowly to Remus. ”Have you got any of that chocolate on you? Please say you’ve got chocolate!” The dog-eyes made him roll his eyes before he pulled out a chocolate bar from his pocket. James had already bought and eaten a lot of candy from the trolley, but all of them seemed to like his chocolate the best, which he took some pride in. Peter, who had been quiet for nearly the whole journey, suddenly came to life as James caught the bar in mid-air.

”Can I have some?” Peter asked interestedly and eyed the chocolate as if it was worth millions of galleons.

Without answering, James broke off a piece for himself and shoved it in his mouth before tossing the bar in Peter’s direction and aiming his attention back at Sirius once again. ”So outside of locking yourself up inside your bedroom, what else did you do? And why couldn’t you come to my place at all this summer, do you know how awesome that would have been?”

”Not much, Walburga wouldn’t let me out the house,” Sirius shrugged and leaned back against his seat. ”’Sirius Orion Black, I do not want you out to pester our family name with your muggle-loving speeches!’” he imitated his mother in a screechy voice.

”Nononono,” James shook his head determinedly. ”She did not do that. That’s it, next summer I’m officially kidnapping you to the house of Potter. Our house is much better anyways,” he finished, as if that proved his case. Sirius shot him a grateful grin as James figured it was his turn to go next. ”Alright, as most of you would have known if you’d bothered to show up, I spent my time like I always do-”

”On a broomstick!” the three others said together before cracking up.

In mock indignity, James ruffled his hair before he continued with excitement showing in his eyes. ”Yes, yes I did. And a very fine broomstick indeed! I got a new one from my dad, just wait until you see it! Anyways, I’m seriously going to be the best chaser this year, the Slytherin team hasn’t got anything on us at all, been practising this whole summer.”

”So outside of flying, what else did you do?” Sirius repeated James’ question with a wink.

”Well, I, okay nothing,” James confessed. ”Peter then?” he quickly directed the spotlight from himself, which was quite a rare thing for James Potter to do.

”Oh!” Peter exclaimed, clearly not ready for the attention. ”I-, I’ve been sleeping, and… eating?” he tried, receiving groans from Sirius and James. ”Okay, okay. But really, I haven’t been-”

Remus couldn’t bare the tormenting of Peter at the moment. ”So you have had a quite relaxing summer, so to say?” he finished, making Peter look a whole lot more at ease. ”I think I don’t need to tell anyone what I have been doing?”

”Books and your furry little problem?” James asked sympathetically as he saw that Remus apparently didn’t want to share his experiences. ”Now that the first point on the Marauders’ train agenda is done-”

Remus could help but laughing. ”’Marauders’ train agenda?’” he repeated between chuckles.

”Seriously Remus, this stuff’s important. Alright, point two; how to mess something up as quickly as possible once we’re inside those big doors. Any ideas?” he looked up from the imaginary paper in his hands as if he was an incredibly important professor.

They quickly agreed on nothing with water, they had done that already, managing to inspire Peeves to soak anyone who was unlucky enough to be within eyeshot with water balloons. There wasn’t really enough time to pull anything big off, for staters they wouldn’t have enough time to plan it out nor prepare for it. Remus did suggest for them to wait until the next day, but the others were determined to start the year off traditionally. Everyone went silent as they contemplated ideas upon ideas as the landscape rushed passed them on the other side of the window.

”I’m hungry,” Peter muttered, breaking the silence together with his rumbling stomach.

”YES!” James shouted, stood up victoriously and banged his head on the shelf above his seat, receiving an odd stare from Remus and snickering from Sirius and Peter as he rubbed the sore spot of the impact. ”The food. We’ll charm it. The Slytherin table’s food. Come on, it’ll be great! Just imagine their faces as they-”

Right in that moment, as James was describing the greatness of his plan with his gestures, the compartment door slid open.

”Oh, no don’t come in. We can smell you all the way from here!” Sirius wrinkled his nose as he saw a gang of five Slytherins in the doorway.

”We get it,” James explained in a matter-of-fact voice. ”We have missed you a terrible lot too, but are you so desperate that you really need to come and see us the first thing you do?”

”Can’t it at least wait until after supper?” Peter jumped in on the action, looking utterly smug any giggling about what he had said. Remus found this situation absolutely perfect for reopening his book, although still keeping one eye on the others, making his reading pace slow.

”It’s quite astonishing, Lupin,” Severus Snape said in his drawly voice. ”You coming back this year again, I mean. Despite your little… problem.” Remus looked up from his book, fear seeping through his body. Did they all know? he thought frantically, panic growing inside him. But he didn’t have time to do anything, because Sirius had joined James and the compartment shone with red light as they both stupefied Snape at the same time. Peter cheered as he fell to the floor, but he quickly stopped when he noticed the glares from the rest of the Slytherins.

”Really Black, Potter, was that a wise idea?" asked Snape’s friend, Evan Rosier while pointing his want at James. Another Slytherin, Mulciber did the same to Sirius as the remaining two, Avery and Wilkes stood back and watched. No one moved, as that would most likely spark a fight. Peter seemed to have tried to make himself invisible, as if his greatest wish wash to sink through the seat.

”Come on, then! And I don’t agree with you. As a matter of fact, he looks much better this way, as his thick skull blocks out most of the view of those greasy locks of his,” Sirius egged Rosier on whilst smirking. Remus knew that he was just waiting for a reason to jinx him. Rosier raised his arm slightly, preparing to curse Remus. Then someone grabbed his arm. Everyone’s eyes immediately shot to the hand as the owner ordered them to lower their wands, which they did reluctantly, staring angrily at each other.

”Now, there is absolutely no need for unnecessary violence,” a tall, blonde man said as he let go of Rosier’s arm before helping Snape out of his situation. Sirius and James both frowned at his statement. The Slytherins were gone before you could blink, leaving the man standing in the doorway. ”Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I should introduce myself. Professor Hudds,” he held out a hand towards James, who shook it with a puzzled look on his face. In a matter of seconds, Professor Hudds had shaken hands with every single one of them and looked as if they were all old good friends.

”So, Professor,” Remus said, eager to break the silence. ”You’re teaching…”

”Defence Against the Dark Arts,” he answered proudly and smiled, white teeth showing. ”A mighty fine subject, fabulous, although it is a shame that it is at all needed. If I had to choose, I’d much rather skip it if that meant that there were no dark arts, don’t you think so too? You lads do look like really nice people, and I am honoured to have met you. Now, I must excuse myself, I think I am needed elsewhere at the moment,” Professor Hudds smiled as he backed out of the compartment, sliding the door three quarters of the way shut.

It took a few moments before James moved and closed the door completely and asked Remus; ”Why were you even asking what his subject is? It is usually only the ’fabulous’ Defence Against the Dark Arts that is vacant.”

”Well it didn’t look as if either of you were going to indulge in conversation?” Remus raised an eyebrow before turning back to his book. ”Thanks, by the way,” he mumbled shyly.

Sirius and Peter looked at him with pity. ”Yeah, we’re charming that food,” James said reassuringly and patted Remus on the shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sirius POV**

* * *

 

When the train had stopped at the Hogsmeade station and all of the confused first year students had found their way to Hagrid, Sirius and the rest of the gang were jogging towards the carriages that would take them to the castle. Right before the train arrived, James had said “It’s important that we arrive as early as possible so that we can see the tables and plan what to do” with an eager voice, full with excitement for getting revenge at those Slytherins who dared to insult the Gryffindor house.

“Hurry up!” James shouted at them with a laugh. When Sirius saw the carriages lined up at the path that lead up to Hogwarts, he was pleased to see that they were the first students to arrive. Suddenly Peter gave out a loud shriek.

“Hey! Guys, I think I bumped into something invisible” he cried out completely terrified. Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to James who did the same. Remus on the other hand, who was the only one who never mocked Peter in any kind of way, just smiled understandingly.   
“Peter, I’m sure it’s only your imagination” Remus said softly in an obvious attempt to stop Sirius and James from making a snarky comment. Peter seemed to get a bit more relieved and Sirius loudly announced “Marauders! We have to discuss point one of the Marauders mischief agenda, and I can see you laughing Remus, so please take a seat in this fabulous carriage and join me for a fantastic ride!”

 

When the carriage started rolling and Peter finally seemed more calm than before, Sirius couldn’t help to look at Remus who was watching the dark sky filled with shining stars. It had been a week since the last full moon, at least if Sirius remembered right. Every holiday when he spent his time locked up in his room, he used to watch the sky every night. Those times when the moon was full he stayed up all night looking at it, wondering if Remus was okay. As this was something that felt way too cheesy to tell Lupin about, Sirius had kept it a secret. James snapped his fingers.

“Concentration please” James said and looked at both Sirius and Lupin. Peter was as usual just happy to be there and had most likely been focusing on James all along. Sirius smiled and scratched his head.

“As much as I love this plan… How are we supposed to convince the beautiful food to move from the beautiful plates to the ugly faces of Slytherin students?” He raised an eyebrow and looked at James. James once again laughed and faced Remus.

“Hey, prefect boy! How do you suggest we make this plan come true?” he said, still with a big smile on his face. Sirius also turned to Lupin and started laughing as well. When Lupin had told them that he was now a prefect they all thought it was a joke. Even if it was mostly James and Sirius that did the mischief and got detention, it was not that unusual that Remus had an input to the idea that was the key to make ultimate chaos.

“I suggest that you all wait until another day, but who would listen to a boring prefect like me?” Remus said with a smirk on his face. The reason that he had been chosen to be the new Prefect was, or at least Sirius thought so, that he was the one most likely to keep the rest of the marauders away from mischief. Sirius could see James shake his head before exclaiming that “No my dear friend, we will not wait. But as we will arrive at the castle in only one minute I suggest that we come up with a charm quickly!”.

 

No one said anything for the last minute of the ride as they all tried to come up with the perfect charm. Even Remus seemed to be doing some thinking.

“Wingardium leviosa, bombarda, expelliarmus…” Sirius mumbled to himself. None of them would do the trick. One of them would only throw away one plate, one would destroy the plate and the other one had unknow effects on a plate.

“THE TABLE!” was the first thing Sirius said with excitement when they all got off the carriage. Everyone, who was now standing on the ground, looked at him questioningly. “If we use wingardium leviosa on the tables and make them fly just a little bit up in the air really quick, then the food will fly with it.” James looked impressed and nodded in Sirius direction. The plan was now complete. As soon as the sound of feet hitting the ground grew louder they all looked at each other and sat course for the Great Hall.

 

When Sirius sat on the familiar bench by the table he looked up at the roof. As always, it was filled with stars. The room was filled with hundreds of small lights and the sound of happy students seeing each other for the first time in a long time. Sirius lowered his gaze and looked at the Slytherin table. Regulus sat next to his Slytherin friends, probably talking about how favoured he had been this summer. Not that it was something special, but it was always the first thing Regulus mentioned at the start of his year. How disappointed his parents was at the strange son that got himself into Gryffindor. He must have been staring too much, because he could feel James knocking him on his right shoulder.

“Remember, we won’t even let them start the food… You take the table to the left, I take the one to the right” he whispered so that only Sirius could hear him. Sirius nodded and looked up at McGonagall who was placing the sorting hat where everyone could see it. Just one minute later, the doors went open and loads of nervous first year students walked in. Some of them smiled confidently while some other were shaking like they probably never had done before. Sirius moved his gaze to the teacher table and could see how that new teacher, was it Tom Mudd?, was already looking like a proud mother. The Great Hall went dead silent. It was now time for this years lame hat-song.

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Hogwarts,

A new year has begun,

So please enjoy your tarts,

because now we will-

What they would do remained a mystery to Sirius, because both he and Remus who was sitting on his left were extremely bored.

“So, if my suspicion is right,” Remus whispered, “you are still planning to do that thing with the food.” Sirius laughed quietly.

“You bet we will! You and Peter will miss something historical!”

“Like, you guys getting the earliest detention ever?” Remus said with a big smile on his face.

“Why, will your first prefect duty be to tell on us?” Sirius said with a faked surprise and Remus just shook his head.

“Jennkins, David!”

“Hufflepuff!”

The hat went on with its sorting for a long time and Sirius wanted to jump up and down because of the excitement about throwing the food onto the Slytherin students faces.

 

When the sorting was done and the first years nervously had taken their places, Dumbledore stepped up on the podium in front of the tables.

“Welcome both new and old students to a new year at Hogwarts.”

“And here we go…” James sighed.

“I want to remind both new students and old students,” Sirius could have sworn that Dumbledore was looking at him, “that you are not allowed in the forest if you don’t want a painful death.” He could hear Peter gulping nervously. “I also want to tell you that this year will bring a lot of new lights to your life. But also new teacher.” Behind Dumbledore’s back, the new teacher that was called something like Tom Smug was almost exploding out of happiness. How he could do that when he was about to teach some bratty kids magic, Sirius had no idea about. “I want to present to you; the new teacher in defence against the dark arts! Professor Tom Hudd!” An applause occurred and Professor Hudd now stood up, waving at the students with tears in his eyes.

“Bless you, bless you kids.” he said before returning to his seat. James and Sirius were chuckling along with some other students. Dumbledore smiled and raised his hands.

“And now, let the feast begin!”  he said with a thundering voice and the sound of hundreds of plates falling into place filled the room. Sirius looked at James and James looked back. In the matter of seconds the two of them discreetly pointed at the Slytherin table with their wands, whispering “Wingardium leviosa”. Sirius saw how the table flew up in the air, throwing all of the food up in the air along with it. The Slytherin students looked surprised with big eyes for less than a second and then, finally, most of the food landed in their faces. A scream of anger was let out from the Slytherins and both Sirius and James broke into laughter along with almost everyone else in the room. Even Remus tried to hide both a smile and a laugher, but was most likely not up for risking his post as a prefect just yet. Sirius got a glimpse of the teacher table and could see how McGonagall was drilling her eyes into the poor, innocent marauders. Apparently she didn’t think they were very innocent and walked up to them in no time at all.

“Potter, Black. You follow me” she said when had arrived at the table. The room was still filled with the angry scream och students with food all over them.

“But what about Peter and Remus?” Sirius said with a smirk on his face. McGonagall didn’t even answer, they both knew very well that she had a talent for knowing when Remus and Peter was not very involved in the mischief that James and Sirius planned.

“As I said, follow me. Now. “

 

“I swear professor, we would NEVER commit a crime like this” James said upsettingly. McGonagall just rolled her eyes. They had been taken to her office where they had been countless of times before.

“Do I even have to tell you about the detention you’re going to get now?” she said, almost boiling with rage. Sirius was just about to say something as a comeback when the door opened behind them.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

_Remus POV_

* * *

 

There are advantages to being friends with Sirius Black and James Potter. For instance; if your stomach as much as gives the faintest growl, you can be entirely sure that these two will either A: drag you with them to the kitchen, as this is a ”necessary precaution so you won’t die”, or B: go to the kitchen all by themselves to be the heroes of the day. They will also ensure that you’re likely never to be bored, and you will never be left out on anything - if you being left out isn’t a big part of their plan, of course.

 

But to most advantages, come some disadvantages. Right now he was being followed by one. Hell, he even was one! Since James and Sirius so kindly broke the record for creating the earliest mayhem of the school year, Professor McGonagall decided that she had had enough of it. Both teachers and prefects now had the duty to watch them to ensure that nothing new happened. Sirius and James were out of themselves because of this.

 

”No but you don’t understand, little puppy,”Sirius explained to him, eyes wide with excitement.

 

”This…this is the biggest challenge our dear Professor has ever given to us, with all of these people spying on us - we just have to do some pranking. If anything it is to set an example of who’s in charge!”

 

Remus laughed when Sirius puffed up his chest with that last statement, turning Sirius around gently as he was about to miss the corridor they were heading for and directed his attention back at Peter.

 

”To answer your question, yes, I can help you with Charms. Although I’m sure you’d be able to do it yourself. Have you tried?”

 

Peter looked at Remus offended and scratched his neck. ”Yeah- well, maybe not…But I can never do it right, so why would it work this time?”

 

Noticing Peter’s disappointment-mixed embarrassment, James immediately put his arm around his shoulder, looking as if he was about to give him the pep-talk of his life. ”Those thoughts won’t do! What would have become of the Marauders if we gave up whenever something got hard or we failed at something?”

 

”But you’re never the ones that fail!”the boy cried out from under James’arm, sounding as if he wasn’t getting enough air to breathe properly.

 

”Ah, that’s true!”Sirius admitted and linked his arm around Peter’s neck as well, nearly making him choke. ”Chocolate factory, please help me give a really motivational speak here!”he continued while raising his eyebrow at Remus.

 

Taken off-guard and nearly walking into Nearly-Headless Nick floating past them, he tried to regain his posture quickly, but all in vain as the other three were nearly folded over in half while laughing at his startled complexion.

 

”Hang on, why is it always up to me to give the speeches, surely you should be able to come up with something yourselves?”he huffed before winking to Peter, ”No, but you just have to try harder Pete! You wouldn’t think that you won’t get good at anything without practice? As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t always get spells right either…”he had to grit his teeth there, admitting defeat isn’t a fun thing to do after all.

 

Peter looked absolutely flabbergasted, ”Are you serious?”

 

”Uh, no, he is.”James interrupted and pointed at Sirius while trying to look innocent.

 

Spreading his arms in some sort of frustrated-ish triumph, Sirius shot him a dirty look. ”Ah, and that marks the three hundred and fiftieth time you have used that joke, Potter!”

 

”I know you like it, darling,”James waved the accusation away before he turned another corner and his eyes caught something that made them shine like he’d just seen a sales sign at Zonko’s.

 

”Evans!”he shouted across the hallway as the other groaned before Sirius faked looking insulted.

 

”Hey, I thought I was your darling, James?!”he tried, but James only had eyes for Lily at this moment.

 

Lily sighed. ”What do you want now, Potter? Please leave me alone.”

 

James tried to lean against the wall, but misjudged the distance and nearly fell, making Remus laugh hysterically. ”Evans, will you go out with me?”

 

”No.”She answered abruptly and disappeared into the classroom closely followed by her friend before he had time to ask her anything else.

 

”Well done,”Sirius patted James’back and went in the same direction as Lily. The poor bloke looked stunned, as he always did after he had spoken to the Evans girl.

 

”May I suggest this book I read on charming ladies?”Remus teased and pushed him into motion, dragging a reluctant Peter into the Charms classroom. Peter probably hadn’t completed their homework, but oppositely to how Sirius and James didn’t care whenever they hadn’t done it (which was about 75% of the time), Peter was always terrified as if the teacher might kill him.

 

When they handed in their homework, which James and Sirius had scribbled down hastily the night before, Professor Flitwick only settled on giving Peter a disapproving glance when he didn’t hand in anything. Like always, the Professor’s expression softened when he saw the parchment which Remus had spent quite a lot of time finishing.

 

”So, this is getting annoying,”James admitted when they sat in the common room later that evening. Both him, Peter and Sirius were pretending to practice charms in order to keep Remus from nagging on them. ”How can we get anything done when people are constantly watching us?”

 

”You know what,”Remus put his wand down to jot down a note on a piece of parchment. ”Maybe that’s what Lily feels like when you follow her?”he winked and continued summoning things towards him.

 

James pretended to look offended, throwing his hands in the air dramatically. ”Are you calling me a stalker, Remus John Lupin? No, don’t even answer, we’re done at this point,”James huffed when Remus opened his mouth to argue.

 

”I think James is right,”Peter agreed. ”Having all these teachers constantly looking, it’s as if we’ve done something really bad, right? And it’s kinda scary, especially when McGonagall gives us that stare.”

 

”Wait, what the hell are you talking about?”Sirius sat up straighter, completely surprised. ”She always gives us that stare!”

 

Remus laughed loudly and sent a pillow flying through the air, aiming for Sirius’face. ”Not really,”he said as Sirius caught the pillow just in time. ”She only gives you two that look. It’s usually reserved for you!”

 

”Well, feel honoured then. Or we might not share that stare with you at all,”Sirius tried to make the pillow fly back at Remus, but deemed this too much of an effort and settled on simply throwing it at him.

 

While Sirius had had his drama break-down, James had just sat there, looking out into the distance and obviously thinking very hard. You could literally see the cogwheels turn inside his head. ”No, but seriously, would there be a way to keep track of where all the teachers are?”

 

”What, like a map?”Peter giggled.

 

”LIKE A MAP!”James stood up forcefully and managed to bang his head on the bookshelf he had been sitting underneath. ”Remus, would that be possible?”he added while rubbing the back of his head. ”You’re smart, do you think it’ll work? That’s such a genius idea. I’m a genius.”

 

”But-”Peter protested, but to little use, for James was in this kind of haze he always lost himself into when he was planning something.

 

Remus sighed, a little smile playing on his lips at the thought of a challenge. ”I shall look into that.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Sirius POV**

* * *

 

“But I don’t understand… Should we not help Remus with his research?” Peter asked with a questioning expression on his face. “I mean, after all, it was our… Or, well, James’ idea to make the map in the first place!”  
“Well Peter, he volunteered to do the research, didn’t he?” James said, not really paying attention to Peter. Peter mumbled something that sounded like an “Okay” and then returned to doing his potions homework. Sirius looked at James and chuckled discretely, his eyes seemed to be glued on Lily Evans who talked to her friends across the room. Sirius made a ‘hrm hrm’ sound before loudly announcing “Potter, maybe you should do your homework instead of staring at poor Lily Evans?” to which James answered with a red face and throwing Peter’s homework at Sirius.  
“Black, shouldn’t you be in the library helping Remus?” James said, carefully looking at Lily who was rolling her eyes before returning to her conversation. Sirius left the sofa in which he was sitting and laughed all the way out of the common room.

“I told you, do not try to help me” Remus said, gazing carefully at Sirius.  
“But I think that I can be really useful, I’m god at finding stuff!” Sirius answered with excitement in his voice. Well, at least he was if the option was to return to a not very happy James and his homework. Remus didn’t answer and just kept on reading in his old and probably boring book. Without waiting any further for an answer, Sirius started a search for any book including maps in the Hogwarts library.  
“What about this book Remus?”  
“No.”  
“But this one? This one can be useful, right?”  
“It’s a world atlas.”  
“For wizards?”  
“For muggles.”  
“But THIS ONE has the answer, I can feel it!”  
“Sirius, I appreciate the help but-”  
“But this one, it’s called ‘Maps and magic’, that sounds like the right one!” Sirius said, convinced that this was the one. Remus closed the book that he was currently reading and turned to Sirius. “Uhm, Sirius, I’m really thankful that you’re trying to help me but right now you’re kinda slowing me down” he said excusing, scratching his head. Sirius let out an “Oh” and did not know what to answer. He probably looked quite upset because it did not even take two seconds before Remus said “But I could really use some company, because it is kinda lonely here you know?” with a smile on his face. Sirius was about to answer before almost having a heart attack when Professor Hudd appeared behind a shelf saying “Oh how I LOVE when young people see the beauty of a library, the knowledge it can give to you!”  
“Uh, yes professor” Sirius answered and leered at Remus who had almost dropped the book he was holding.  
“So what are you two young men reading if I may ask? Is that a world atlas? Oh how many memories…” Hudd said, suddenly looking up at the ceiling. Sirius looked up as well and tried to figure out what Hudd was looking at before he suddenly felt Remus discreetly tugging Sirius arm. He looked down at Remus who looked back at him with a meaningful face, nodding in Hudd’s direction. The professor was no longer looking at the ceiling but at the atlas. With glimmering eyes he took a deep breath and faced Sirius. “In my youth, I once traveled to Spain. A magnificent place, I recommend you to visit this marvelous country. You know, their food taste like-”  
“Sirius, look at the time! It’s really late, sorry Professor, it was a nice talk” Remus said with a indication of surprise in his voice when he ‘by a coincidence’ realized what time it was. Sirius felt relieved that Remus helped him escape a very uncomfortable conversation while Professor Hudd on the other hand looked like someone just stole his whole pudding supply. Sirius politely said goodbye before leaving the library in a hurry with Remus.

The two friends did not say anything at first as they slowly walked towards the Gryffindor common room, but when Sirius and Remus exchanged glances they both burst into laugher. “Marvelous place, maybe you can go there for your next transformation?” Sirius said with a grin on his face. Remus answered with a sad smile. How long could it be until the next full moon? One week? It was always as heartbreaking to see one of your best friends return emotionally damaged from each full moon. Not feeling like ruining the mood even more, Sirius patted Remus on his shoulder one last time before entering the Gryffindor common room.

“I know that research takes time, but I NEED this map as soon as possible” James said, waving his arms in the air. Sirius and Remus had not even been in the common room for three seconds before James had been running towards them, demanding a report on their(or well, Remus’) progress. Sirius chuckled and answered “Does it have anything to do with a certain Lily Evans?” followed by a chortle from both Peter and Remus. Sirius could almost feel James shooting arrows at him and and felt like the best option at this point would be to change the subject.  
“Not to break the tension or anything, but I’m hungry” Peter said troubled, looking hopefully at James.  
“We can’t let poor Peter starve. What do you guys say about a trip to the kitchen?” James said and smiled at Peter who looked extremely pleased. Sirius could feel his stomach rumble as well and nodded in James direction followed by an “Well that sounds awesome!”.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus' POV

”You know what?” Peter asked while stuffing another muffin into his mouth, making the rest of his sentence slightly inaudible. ”I don’t really think that I am a rat? You know?” 

Being up late had a tendency to have the same effect as alcohol would have had on Peter Pettigrew. One time, the kid had started to sing so loudly during a visit to the kitchen that it had attracted Madam Pomfrey who happened to pass by at that very moment. Needless to say, she wasn’t very happy and it suddenly got a lot harder to get into Hogwarts’ food stash. However this wasn’t a problem for long since Sirius and James made it their mission to take back the rule over the kitchen again. Of course this all happened in the course of a day or two, and now the four of them regularly snuck back in there to satisfy those midnight cravings.

”Okay then,” Sirius rested his head in his hands, listening carefully to what Peter had to say, which was in itself a rare thing for him to do. ”Then what are you?”

”I know that you’ve said this before to tease me,” Peter started and grabbed Sirius arms, looking extremely convinced of whatever he had managed to come up with in his head. ”But I think that I’m more of a hamster.”

The serious way of in which he said this made James nearly fall off his chair with laughter. ”Okay, suppose you are a hamster then. Would you like us to get you a little cage or something to live in?” he asked. ”You know, this is kind of a good business idea. If you don’t have to sleep in one of the beds in our dormitory, maybe we could rent it out?”

Sirius snorted, but overall he looked as if he was in on James’ new plan. ”To who, Snivellus? I’d love to have him as a roommate. Those greasy locks of him might actually give off some nice scent, you never know. Could be needed with you in there James, you absolutely stink.”

”I do not,” James protested and puffed his chest out. ”I smell of roses and strawberries, thank you very much!”

————————————————————————————————

With every passing night, Remus could literally feel the full moon getting closer. The crackling of the fire in the common room usually calmed him down, however now he seemed to be on edge and nearly jumped every time it made a sound. He was trying to finish his homework before he would actually go insane and wouldn’t be able to do it at all. This ultimately led to the fact that he couldn’t really work on the research needed for their map, which was much to James’ dismay. Speaking of James; he was currently the only one of them who wasn’t in the common room at that moment.

Of course, Sirius was not satisfied by his disappearance. ”Okay but where did he go? We actually agreed on doing this work together and I am not doing this on my own. If he’s getting out of it, then I am getting out of it too! But seriously Remus, where is he? You usually know everything. Use that knowledge and help a brother in need, yeah?”

”If you’d bothered to actually have a proper look you could have used your deducting skills to figure out that Lily Evans isn’t here either,” Remus answered without raising his glance from the parchment he was jotting down notes on.

”How is Evans more important than me?” Sirius pretended to faint before slapping his hands back onto the table, making Peter’s ink bottle topple over and fill the previously blank piece of parchment with its previous contents. ”Sorry Peter, you can have my homework instead.”

”Well, ehm, thanks?” Peter answered unsurely as Sirius handed over another parchment, just as blank as his had previously been. They were obviously making a rather nonexistent amount of progress despite being in front of their assigned homework for nearly forty minutes.

Dramatic as always, Sirius threw his papers into the air, attracting some rather odd stares from the people occupying the other tables around them. ”I give up! It’s just like you said Remus - this paper won’t write itself no matter how long I stare at it so I might as well just hand it in like this! No. I need inspiration,” he finished and started towards the portrait door. Before he reached it, it swung open to reveal the figure of James Potter, and James Potter happened to look extremely defeated.

James dragged his feet all the way to where the others were sitting before sighing loudly. When no one bothered to ask him what was wrong he continued: ”I am finished. Done. Dead. I can’t go on like this anymore. Why don’t I just give up once and for all?”

”That, my friend, is exactly what I have been asking myself as well!” Sirius said cheerfully and gave James a pat on the back. ”So what’s the problem, mate?”

James merely looked at his dark-haired friend before shooting Remus a desperate glare. ”Moony, you have to help me out. I need that map in order to make up for this! Help me live again!”

”Okay, you two!” Remus said forcefully and threw his quill onto the table before rubbing his temples. ”You messed something up with Evans?” he asked and received a nod that didn’t seem to stop. ”And you want me to finish the map so that you can fix whatever you messed up?” another nod. ”Fine, I shall hereby devote my life to this map. Forget homework, forget our little event that’s creeping closer and closer. From now on, the map is the most important thing in my life,” he finished sarcastically.

James reached across the table and gave Remus a big hug. ”Thank you.” Remus pushed him away before resting his face in his hands and making a noise out of frustration. Sirius thankfully helped him there and kicked James off his chair. This appeared to get him out of whatever trance he must have been in.

”Sorry, Moony, got a bit big-headed there,” he excused himself as he heaved his body back up on the chair. ”So, the big ball of cheese in the sky, do we need to make any more preparations for it than normal?”

”What about a pillow?” Peter let his thoughts wander out loud.

”Thanks Peter, but I think I’m alright,” Remus smiled and leaned back in his chair, deciding that his homework was now finished. ”The only thing I need right now is some rest. And James, I’ll try to get some more research done. At least it will get my mind off of things.”

————————————————————————————————

Remus was wearing James’ invisibility cloak while he, a black dog and a stag were watching the grass rustle beneath the Whomping Willow as Peter trotted towards the tree to temporarily switch off the tree’s violent instincts. After a few seconds, the tree froze, and they knew that it was now safe to make their way into the secret tunnel leading from the tree and all the way to the Shrieking Shack resting in the outskirts of Hogsmeade. There was something comforting about the tunnel slithering its way out of the school grounds. Despite the musty smell of dirt and mould, Remus knew that with every step he took, the people he left behind in the school would be safer. Since they now couldn’t be seen from the castle, his friends were also now walking together with him in their human forms, and he was reminded of the fact that he was not alone in this nightmare.

About halfway into the tunnel, they hid the invisibility cloak in a crack in the wall reserved for this purpose. They couldn’t risk bringing it with them too far in case it would be destroyed. The only thing that was brought with them all the way was usually a bag full of food that would later be thrown back into the darkness of the tunnel.

”Well, here we are,” Sirius said as they emerged into the Shrieking Shack. Most people would consider the old house rather spooky, but to them it nearly felt like a second home. ”How long have we got?”

”About twenty minutes,” Remus estimated and sat down on the floor. Since most of the furniture had been destroyed by their previous visits, the floor was now the most intact part of the house except for the heavy wooden door that hid the tunnel. They all joined Remus on the floor and started to apprehensively munch on the chocolate Remus had brought with them. Not much was said, and they all waited somewhat nervously for those twenty minutes to pass.

Suddenly, the room was lit up by a thin beam of moonlight piercing through the gap of the boards nailed onto the window. It was there way too early, and James, Sirius and Peter quickly transformed themselves into their animagus forms not a second too soon. Together, they watched carefully when Remus started twitching as his body slowly transformed, only letting out sounds of pain. He tried to claw at the wooden floor with his nails, trying to get away from the feeling of something eating him up from the inside. Remus let out a loud groan as his skeleton reshaped itself and his skin a grew grey, thick coat of fur. Eventually, his two yellow eyes stared back at his friends for a few moments before something seemed to snap inside of him and he violently started attacking pretty much everything in his way.

This was where his friends always helped him. Together, they wrestled the werewolf to the ground, not in order to keep him from destroying whatever was in the house, but in order to keep him from hurting himself. Throughout the night, they would all help him make this nightmare experience slightly more bearable.


End file.
